230 Mr. H. Seebolim on the Genus Himantopus. 
Habits : Buller, Birds of New Zealand, p. 201. 
Eggs : Campbell, Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds, 
p. 55. 
The Australian Avocet may be diagnosed at all ages by its 
combination of the following characters :— secondaries -white 
on both webs, a great deal of white on the scapulars , but none 
on the innermost secondaries. In breeding-plumage the head 
and neck are chestnut. 
It is found throughout Australia, except in the extreme 
north, and occasionally occurs in Tasmania, New Zealand^ 
and Norfolk Island. 
The Australian Avocet is an intermediate form between 
the Common Avocet and the North-American Avocetit 
has less white on the wing than the former and more than 
the latter. 
i Himantopus americanus. 
Recurvirostra americana } G-melin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 693 
(1788); et auctorum plurimorum. 
Recurvirostra occidentals , Vigors, Zool. Journ. iv. p. 356 
(1829). 
Plates : Wilson, Amer. Orn. pi. 63. fig. 2; Gray, Gen. 
Birds, iii. pi. 155. 
Habits : Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water-Birds N. 
Amer. i. p. 341. 
Eggs : Thienemann, Vogeleiern, pi. lxvi. fig. 3. 
The North-American Avocet may be distinguished at all 
ages by the colour of its secondaries , which are white , with a 
large patch of brown on the outer web. In breeding-plumage 
the head and neck are pale chestnut. 
It breeds in North America, as far north as the Great Slave 
Lake, and as far south as Texas. To the northern portion 
of its range it is only a summer visitor, wintering in Central 
America and the West Indies. 
These three species constitute the group of true Avocets. 
Their ancestors seem to have left the Polar basin by way of 
the European shores of the Atlantic, and to have occupied 
Africa and the southern portion of the Palsearctic Region. 
